Hello all, I thought I would finally ask for the help of this community after suffering with this problem for years now.
I'm 18 years old, and I suffer with "moderate to severe cystic acne" as the GP put it. I've had problems with my skin since I was about 11, but it's only really developed into a hormonal and cystic problem from the age of 13/14. At 14 I was put on the pill (Dianette I think it was called) after finding that most antibiotics just stopped working after a while of using them, and just started to give me stomach pains instead. The pill helped my skin really well, but unfortunately I had to stop using it as I was diagnosed with Acute Intermittent Porphyria, a rare genetic blood disease which, in short, means that I can't take anything that can balance my hormones out without being at risk from an attack. I also can't take any antibiotics, which I'm glad because I'd rather not resort to them again.
So since then I've been suffering with acne outbreaks mostly around the time of ovulation, mostly around my chin and jaw area, sometimes I get the occasional cystic spot around my eyebrow/nose area. I've tried a lot of different things, but of course I'm really limited to what I can use and the doctors and dermatologists are of no help as they just give me topicals that do nothing for my skin, so I have given up on them.
Over the last year my skin has improved for some reason, maybe because I have improved my diet and started exercising more. Still, it looks awful to me as I constantly have cystic bumps, scars and redness all over my face, plus the fact that I always have an oily nose (my mother and brothers also suffer from large pores and oily skin).
So, does anyone know some natural remedies that can help balance out my hormones a bit? I am really at a loss here as I can only use natural methods, really. Are there any certain vitamins or foods I could start using?
Sorry for the huge paragraph but I just can't find help after so many years of having to just deal with it.
Have you already tried Vitex or any female balancing supplements? I had a horrible hormone imbalance after I had my kids and tried every natural thing I could find and nothing worked for me. But I didn't have a lot of money, if I did I would've had my thyroid tested and and also see if my adrenal glands were functioning properly. I gave up and got on birth control pills and it helped a lot but not as much as I thought. I regret doing it and am scared to come off of it. There are foods you can eat that could help, like a carrot a day, egg yolks http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11983/48-foods-to-balance-your-hormones-give-you-glowing-skin.html
Naturopaths are awesome for helping figuring out hormone imbalances and hypothyroidism. If you can, I would try that...
I have recently been looking into naturally curing hormonal imbalances and something that I came across was Mighty Maca Greens. The full story about this powdered supplement can be found at this link: [removed] I just ordered mine, so I cannot tell you if it helps from personal experience, but I do think that it would be worth a try. If you read Dr. Anna's story in the link it makes this supplement sound like it can work wonders! I hope this can help!
Okay, sorry to bring up this sort of old post. I have tried Vitex like you guys recommended. I've been on it for about 2 weeks now and my skin has got worse! 
I'm not sure what's happened but I've got acne spreading from my chin up to my cheeks now. I've had to stop it as it's close to that time of the month anyway, but should I resume taking it afterwards? It just seems to be bringing more acne out...
Oh, I'm sorry to hear it's not working. A lot of people have success but unfortunately some don't. If you're still taking and not having any luck after all this time I would stop. But I'm so sorry my suggestion made it worse 
I should have mentioned that if you've taken antibiotics you should take a probiotic of some kind, I find it easiest to take them in pill form but you can eat healthy yogurt every day, drink kombucha or eat fermented foods like kimchi. The antibiotics kill all the bad bacteria in your gut but they also kill the good, that's why after a while they can make your acne worse if you don't rebuild the good bacteria in your gut back up afterwards. I don't know why most doctors fail to mention this when they give people antibiotics, but it's really important. Anyway, that's going to help you.
You might check out the love vitamin website. It 's a great website for healing acne naturally and has a lot of info on hormonal acne and supplements. I hope you can find something that helps.
http://thelovevitamin.com/
http://thelovevitamin.com/14067/all-about-progesterone-acne/
I use to suffer from hormonal/cystic acne on my chin & jaw as well. Recently I had a bad cystic breakout on my jawline from what I believe was a food allergy. I cleared it up with vitamin d3, and b-complex + c. I also drank lemon water several times a day and then slowed down once my acne was disappearing. Now I only drink it twice a day...so there was some liverdetox action going on.
Ihave always taken spearmint off and on over the years as an anti androgen and I believe it's prevented hormonal acne as well. But the d3/b/c combo + lemon waterworked really well. Check with your physician and see if it's ok.
Avoid:
Dairy (this one has been spoken about to death!)
Coffee (amplifies your insulin response; high insulin = acne trigger)
Red Meat
Reduce:
Sugar
Omega 6
Increase:
Leafy greens
Green tea
Salmon
Have ACV in water before meals to lower blood glucose in response to meal
Hope that helps! Check out research into any of these if interested!